Having a knife in Counter-Strike 2 is the ultimate flex. Despite the cost of these in-game items, many players (even at the lower ranks) are rocking a knife. This has been a cause for tons of debate in the community. Endless tier lists, videos, and articles have been published on CS2 knives, so we try to take a unique approach to the question ‘what is the best CS2 knife‘ by looking at pro data.
Obviously, this article is meant to be a fun read. We know that there is no objective ‘best’ when it comes to highly subjective items such as cosmetics. Still, it can be fun to see what the people at the top of the game are using. And who knows; maybe it’ll help you on your search for your own knife.
The most used Knife skins by CS2 Pros
The most popular skins are calculated based on 553 professional players.
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We try decide what the best CS2 knife is by looking at pro data. We have analyzed hundreds of professional players and we base this list on that data. If you’re interested in buying a knife for yourself, feel free to check out our guide on how to buy CS2 skins.
Note that this article is not meant as investment advice. Prices of skins can and will fluctuate over time, so always do your own research before making any purchases.
Butterfly Knife Fade
Ask 100 Counter-Strike 2 players what a high tier knife is and a majority will probably mention the Butterfly Knife Fade. This fancy balisong has been in CS for around a decade at this point, making it basically synonymous with the game.
The Butterfly Knife is considered by many to be the highest tier knife in the entire game, and its price reflects that. Even the cheapest Butterfly Knife will set you back well over $400. For a Butterfly Knife Fade, you should add another 0 to that number.
Those are eye-watering prices, but what’s curious here is that the Butterfly Knife’s popularity and status as the most desirable knife is kind of new.
For a number of years after it came out, the Butterfly Knife was considered to be a mid tier knife. Other options such as the M9 Bayonet, Karambit, and even the regular Bayonet were considered to be fancier, and that was also reflected in the price.
It isn’t fully known when and why the sentiment around the Butterfly turned, but we do know that it has managed to become the default high roller knife in CS2, surpassing even the OG top tier knife, the Karambit.
The actual looks of the Butterfly Knife Fade depend on its fade percentage. At the lowest fade percentage, it’s almost completely yellow with a hint of orange. This is called the ‘mango fade’ in the community. At the highest fade percentages, the yellow is almost completely pushed away from the blade, and the tip becomes purple. Prices depend on fade percentage, with higher percentages costing more.
Karambit Fade
The Karambit Fade was once the king of high tier CS knives, but these days it plays second fiddle to the Butterfly Fade. Whether the Karambit or the Butterfly Knife is the best knife in CS2 is a topic for hot debate, and that can also be seen in the price. The Karambit is a bit friendlier on the wallet than the Butterfly, but not by much.
What is different is how the knife fades. The Karambit (along with the Talon Knife) has a ‘horizontal’ way of fading. Here, the fade doesn’t start at the heel/tip of the blade, but rather near the spine.
At the lowest fade percentage, the knife will be almost completely purple, with a hint of pink. At higher fade percentages, the knife is mostly pink, with a touch of yellow/gold near the corner.
Due to this unique fade pattern, the Karambit Fade is a very desired skin for neon/80’s loadouts, or loadouts that focus on pink or purple colors. It also pairs fantastically with one of the highest tier gloves in the game, the Sport Gloves Vice. Rocking this combo will ensure that everyone knows you’ve got cash to spend, though it’s not a very original combo.
Karambit Doppler (Phase 2)
The Doppler finish is without a doubt one of the most popular weapon finishes in CS2. Combine that with a knife that pretty much everyone would rank at least A tier or higher, and you’ve got a massively popular skin.
For those who don’t know: Doppler knives come in a variety of phases. These phases are randomly decided when a skin gets unboxed. There are four main Doppler phases:
- Phase 1 (mostly dark purple with a hint of pink)
- Phase 2 (mostly pink with a hint of dark purple)
- Phase 3 (mostly black with a hint of blue)
- Phase 4 (mostly blue with a hint of black)
Phase 2 and 4 are the most popular phases. Consequentially, they’re also the most expensive phases. They are followed by phase 1 and phase 3. There are also ‘gem’ phases. We’ll go deeper on those further down in the article.
The Karambit Doppler Phase 2 has always been a dream knife for many gamers, but now that Doppler finishes have gotten a significant buff in CS2’s new engine we’d expect this knife to be at the top of many more wish lists.
Commonly referred to as ‘pink galaxy,’ the Karambit Doppler Phase 2 is the knife to get if you want a deep, glossy, and shiny finish on your knife.
Butterfly Knife Slaughter
Slaughter used to be one of the most desirable finishes in CS:GO. With the arrival of fancier, shinier finishes such as Dopplers and Marble Fades, the Slaughter finish has become a little less prestigious, but it seems to be making a mini comeback in CS2.
With CS2’s new engine highlighting the differences between the darker and lighter parts of Slaughter knives in a pleasing way, this finish is a lot more pleasing to the eye than it was in CS:GO. Some even refer to it as a ‘budget ruby’. Combine that with the fact that it’s a relatively affordable high tier finish pattern and you’ve got the recipe for a popular knife.
Important to know is that slaughter knives come in many different patterns (see CS2 Pattern ID explained). A knife with a so-called ‘diamond’ in the center is usually worth more than one with a random pattern. Back in the day, these special slaughter patterns used to constitute significant overpay. However, these days only the really rare patterns (full diamonds etc.) are worth overpay.
Karambit Doppler Ruby
As we mentioned earlier, Doppler knives come in different phases. Aside from the regular phases, there are also three ‘gem finishes’. These are ultra rare finishes that are incredibly sought after.
The three Doppler gem finishes are:
- Ruby (completely red)
- Sapphire (completely purple/blue)
- Black Pearl (completely black)
While Black Pearl is the rarest of the gem finishes, Ruby and Sapphire are more popular due to their deep and rich colors.
Getting your hands on a high tier knife with a Doppler finish will already cost you a pretty penny, and if you want a gem finish you’ll have to pay truly eye-watering sums. A Factory New (see CS2 Skin Conditions Explained) Karambit Ruby will cost thousands of dollars, making this a knife that most people can only dream of.
Butterfly Knife Sapphire
Take a Doppler gem finish. Combine it with the most desirable knife in the game. The result is a knife that costs more than a brand new entry-level car.
The Butterfly Sapphire is one of the most coveted status symbols in the game and one of the most expensive skins you can get. Its price has come down somewhat after the buff to the normal Doppler phases, but it’s still way beyond what 99.99% of people will want to pay for a weapon skin in a game.
Butterfly Knife Marble Fade
The Marble Fade finish is best described as a mixture between Doppler and Fade on steroids. It’s an extremely vibrant mix of colors in a seemingly random order. This chaotic combo doesn’t please everyone, but if you like plenty of color and RGB aesthetics, a Marble Fade knife could be exactly right for you.
What’s worth noting is that some knives can have special Marble Fade patterns. The most famous is the ‘fire and ice’ pattern, where there’s only red and blue on the blade. The Butterfly Knife does not have these special patterns though, so you’ll always get a mishmash of colors on the blade.
Butterfly Knife Ruby
If you want a Doppler gem finish and you want to save some cash, you can always go for a Ruby. Being the cheapest of the gem finishes, it’s the most wallet-friendly option. Obviously, that’s all relative, as a Factory New Butterfly Ruby will still cost well over $10,000.
Karambit Doppler Phase 4
When it comes to Dopplers, Phase 4s are almost always cheaper than Phase 2s. In other words: if you’re a fan of blue, you’re in luck.
The Karambit Doppler Phase 4 is one of the most affordable knives on this list. It’s not an extremely rare finish, and it’s therefore not outrageously expensive. However, it’s still a Karambit. And Doppler is still a top tier finish. This means that you should expect to pay well over $1,000 to get your hands on one of these.
M9 Doppler Ruby
The M9 Bayonet used to be the second most popular knife in Counter-Strike. Since the Butterfly renaissance, it has dropped to the third spot on the list, making it more affordable than its top tier siblings.
The M9 is known for its massive, mean-looking blade, and if you’re a fan of more traditional-looking knives over the fidget-spinning Butterfly and the dainty Karambit, this is definitely one to go for.
If you opt for an M9 with a lower tier finish, they can get surprisingly affordable (relatively speaking, of course) but if you want a Ruby like the pros you’ll have to dig deep into your wallet.
Butterfly Knife Vanilla
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Knives★ Butterfly Knife
When skin enthusiasts talk about ‘vanilla’ they mean ‘without a finish’.
With the release of CS2, vanilla knives have gotten a buff. They look cleaner, sleeker, and shinier when compared to their CS:GO counterparts. This makes the vanilla knives desirable options for players who want to have a realistic loadout, or a loadout that’s focused on darker colors as opposed to the neon-lit extravaganzas that most of their peers are running.
When it comes to the price, vanilla knives tend to sit somewhere in the middle. They’re cheaper than top tier finishes, but (a lot) more expensive than bottom tier finishes such as Safari Mesh. Due to the sheer popularity of the Butterfly Knife, however, getting a vanilla one will cost you more than getting a Karambit Doppler Phase 4.
Best CS2 Knife – Staff Picks
Luckily, the fact that only three or so knives seem to exist in the top tier knife market means that there are tons of options out there for people who don’t necessarily need a Karambit, Butterfly, or M9. It really pays off to look outside of the pro bubble towards other knives. Sure, a Butterfly Fade is extremely cool, but anyone who follows the pro scene has seen it thousands of times. By thinking outside the box, you can often snag some really cool and unique knives for a fraction of what the pros are paying for theirs.
In order to make this list a little more interesting for people on a budget, we’ve added five of our own choices.
Classic Knife Slaughter
The Classic Knife has a nice pullout animation, a unique inspect animation, and an idle animation. On top of that, it also has that OG coolness factor. What’s not to like? Couple if with a Slaughter finish for a cool throwback knife that won’t cost an arm and a leg.
Huntsman Knife Doppler Phase 1
Dopplers are expensive. Doubly so if you want to get them on a top tier knife like the M9 Bayonet. If you don’t have the budget for the M9, you can always look towards the Huntsman Knife. It has a similar blade (big and mean-looking, with large teeth) and a smooth pullout animation. It does lack special inspect animations or rare pullout animations, but the same can be said for the M9.
Shadow Daggers Vanilla
Shadow Daggers were a bit of a meme in CS:GO. We admit that they’re still a bit of an oddity due to their size and the fact that you’re holding two tiny plugs, but the vanilla Shadow Daggers look really sleek and cool in CS2. To top it off, Valve has fixed the annoying bug where your crosshair used to shake when pulling out Shadow Daggers, making it a valid budget option.
Flip Knife Fade
The Flip Knife Fade is a knife with an impressive history. Nowadays, it has fallen out of favor, but it used to be very popular in the pro scene. Many iconic plays were made by players rocking this knife, and the Flip Knife Fade will be recognized by any skin aficionado as a worthy knife. You’re getting a Fade finish on a knife that most people at the very least respect (if not outright like) so this is definitely a good buy.
Stiletto Knife Marble Fade
Stiletto Knives have long been laughed at for being toothpicks, but they’ve been getting more popular. The sleek pullout animation has a 50’s gangster movie chic to it, and if you combine that with a rare inspect animation and a compact, stylish blade you’ve got a knife that everyone will respect for being so unique.
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Knives★ Shadow Daggers
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Best CS2 Knife – Conclusion
If you want to roll like the pros you’ll need a very large wallet. The most used knives in the pro scene are exclusively very popular knives with very popular (and/or rare) finishes, making them extremely expensive.
What’s handy to know is that pros often borrow skins from affluent collectors for tournaments. If you see a pro playing with an inventory worth over $1,000,000 it’s almost always going to be a borrowed inventory.
Furthermore, it’s also good to know that pros play the game full-time. If you’re spending more than 8 hours in the game every single day, it gets a little easier to justify that expensive knife. Someone who only plays for two hours every weekend might find a $1,000 knife purchase to be more difficult to swallow.
In the end, it all comes down to what you like. Don’t get a knife just because the pros are using it. And, most importantly, don’t spend money that you need for necessities on something like a knife. Find something within your budget and have fun with it. Be unique, and build your inventory around your own style.
Hopefully this list has managed to give you some inspiration. Have fun building the loadout of your dreams!
